Blow for Cameron's bid to ditch party's anti-ethnic minority image

David Cameron's attempt to woo ethnic minorities suffered a blow last night after Conservative MPs were at the centre of two alleged racist incidents in the Commons.

Black Labour MP Dawn Butler has made a formal complaint about former Tory Minister David Heathcoat-Amory, claiming he insulted her and a group of ethnic-minority visitors to Parliament, telling them: "The place is going to wrack and ruin. They are letting anyone in these days."

And in a separate clash, a Muslim Labour MP claimed a Tory shouted to Asian MPs during a Commons debate: "They all look the same."

The allegations are a setback to Mr Cameron's drive to ditch his party's image of being against ethnic minorities by recruiting more Asian and black Conservative MPs.

The confrontation between Old Etonian Mr Heathcoat-Amory and Ms Butler took place last month when the 36-year-old East London MP for Brent South was treating her staff to lunch on the Commons terrace overlooking the Thames.

Her team included a Kenyan Muslim woman wearing a hijab, a Somalian man and an Afro-Caribbean woman.

Ms Butler said they were challenged by Mr Heathcoat-Amory - the 57-year-old MP for Wells in Somerset - who demanded: "Where are you going? This area is for MPs only. Are you an MP?'

Ms Butler, who was wearing her MP's pass, replied: "Yes. Are you?"

She explained: "When we sat down to lunch, my staff were very unhappy. A lot of white people were coming into the MPs' area but Mr Heathcoat-Amory didn't give them a second glance."

Ms Butler approached the Tory MP again and demanded to know why he had challenged her.

According to Ms Butler, Mr Heathcoat-Amory refused to reveal his identity and replied: "The place is going to wrack and ruin. They are letting anyone in these days."

Ms Butler, whose family came to Britain from Jamaica, has made a formal complaint to Commons chiefs.

She said: "The whole thing had a racist overtone. It was very distasteful."

Mr Heathcoat-Amory said yesterday: "I didn't recognise her and she didn't recognise me.

"Visitors are very welcome to the Commons but the rules have broken down. Nobody checks anything any more. That was the point I was making. It has nothing to do with race."

Another race row flared in a Commons debate last week when a Tory MP mistook Labour MP Sadiq Khan for another Asian Labour MP, Shahid Malik. An unnamed Conservative MP shouted: "They all look the same."